The Ritz-Carlton: a Legendary Name in Hospitality

The Ritz-Carlton hotel brand is one of the world's most famous and respected hospitality names. Everywhere, these two hyphenated words signify superlative accommodations and benchmark service.

The Ritz-Carlton is a top-tier hotel management company that manages individually owned hotel properties for their private owners. The company is part of the Marriott hospitality giant based in Bethesda, Maryland.

The Ritz-Carlton can be counted on to deliver a superlative guest experience. Its hotels are continually honored with travel awards. Many of the properties possess the rare five-star and five-diamond ratings.

If you were wondering what these true luxury hotels are like and where they are, here some facts about The Ritz-Carlton.

What sets The Ritz-Carlton apart? Its service. Guest service at The Ritz-Carlton is world-renowned. It is so personal, it can be mysterious. (I still don't know how I was greeted by name by the valets when...MORE driving up in a rented car – before the days of Facebook.)

The Ritz-Carlton also operates one of most fruitful guest rewards programs around, The Ritz-Carlton Rewards. Enrollment is complimentary, and perks start cropping up after only 10 nights' stay per year.

As of September 2017, Ritz-Carlton operates over 100 properties in 31 countries around the world. Nearly half are in the U.S. (Florida alone boasts 10 hotels, and California seven.) Here's a geographic list.

Ritz-Carlton is closely affiliated with several partner brands such as EDITION hotels in the U.S., Bulgari Hotels and Resorts in Italy and Bali; the Ritz London and Hotel Ritz Madrid (forerunners to today's brand); The Cosmopolitan of Las Vegas, and The Ritz-Carlton, Montreal in Canada. (Three Ritz-Carlton yachts are coming in 2019 for land-and-sea Ritz-Carlton vacations.)

The Style of The Ritz-Carlton: every property looks different. A luxury traveler reserving a room in a Ritz-Carlton hotel, whether a resort or urban property, can expect a very high level of design throughout the hotel. And fresh flowers, too: lavish displays of indigenous blooms are a decorative signature of Ritz-Carlton lobbies.

Apart from flowers everywhere, there is no "company look" when it comes to Ritz-Carlton style.

Some hotels are classic. They occupy historic or vintage buildings and are classically decorated. They often have elegant New England-style furniture in rooms and suites, and massive crystal chandeliers and gilt-framed oil paintings in the lobby.

Other hotels are airy, modern glass towers, such as The Ritz-Carlton, Fort Lauderdale. The architecture of Hotel Arts Barcelona and The Ritz-Carlton, Toronto (seen above) is so spectacular that these buildings became instant architectural landmarks in their cities.

Still other Ritz-Carlton hotels are designed to echo their surroundings. These include the restored Miami Art Deco palace that is now The Ritz-Carlton, South Beach and the Rocky Mountain lodge of The Ritz-Carlton, Bachelor Gulch in Colorado.

Ritz-Carlton Reserves are super-high-end smaller, boutique hotel-style properties, with an enhanced level of even Ritz-Carlton's benchmark service. The first Ritz-Carlton Reserve, opened in 2011 in southern Thailand, was Phulay Bay, a Ritz-Carlton Reserve. This glorious property (shown above) comprises 54 stunningly beautiful villas, each with a private butler. The second was the 1,400-acre Dorado Beach, a Ritz-Carlton Reserve. It opened in December 2012 on a one-time Rockefeller family estate in Puerto Rico, with a magnificent 1920s hacienda as its centerpiece. The property offers 100 guestrooms, 14 suites, and four championship golf courses. Mandapa, A Ritz-Carlton Reserve, opened in the arts village of Ubud on Bali, Indonesia, in 2015.

Ritz-Carlton Reserves are in the planning stages in Los Cabos in Mexico and Tamuda Bay in Morocco.

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Why Staying on a Ritz-Carlton Hotel Club Floor Is a Luxury Travel Tradition

What Else Sets The Ritz-Carlton Apart? Its Famous Club Floor

For many luxury travelers, the "point of difference" of the Ritz-Carlton hotel brand is its Club Level of enhanced accommodations. Club Level rooms and suites enjoy upgraded amenities such as complimentary wifi, butler-style services like laundry, and take-home sizes of toiletries, and a personal gift.

But the best perk of Club Level status is free access to the alluring Club Lounge, with plush nooks for lounging, socializing, imbibing, reading, working, TV, private phone and Facetime conversations; five complimentary food and beverage services during the day (some guests rely on the Club Lounge for breakfast and lunch); free pours of Ritz-Carlton's private Napa wine label; a dedicated concierge, complete business center, meeting and conference rooms.